Summer Internship: A Day in the Life of Melissa Brand
Marketing Major with a Minor in Web Design
Melissa Lam, Marketing major.
Hi everyone! My name is Melissa Lam and I am heading to my junior year at San Diego State University. I am majoring in marketing and minoring in web design. Throughout the school year, I am a supplemental instruction (SI) leader for STAT 119, Elementary Statistics for Business. As an SI leader, I plan and facilitate study sessions to help business statistics students succeed in the course.
This summer, I am a marketing intern for Replica Printing. Replica Printing is founded by SDSU alumni, Ryan Stevens, and is a commercial printing business that works with supporting businesses in San Diego County. At Replica, they specialize in creating training materials, marketing materials, and reprographics.
I connected with the internship through Handshake, an online recruiting platform for higher education students and alumni. I was interested in this position because it would allow me to have hands-on experience in the marketing field.
Here is a day in the life as a marketing intern:
7:00 am - Good morning! After all my alarms go off, I finally get out of bed to get ready for the day. I always wake up starving so I head to my kitchen to make my breakfast and coffee. Taking the time to make a good breakfast is important to me because it helps me ensure that I have energy for the day.
8:00 am - After getting ready, I will pack up lunch and my bag to head into the office. Replica Printing is located in Poway, CA, about 20-40 minutes away depending on the traffic. I always play my favorite music on the way to work while finishing my coffee.
9:00 am - Once I arrive at the office, I greet all my co-workers and clock in for work. While I am setting up my desk, Cali, my boss’s dog, runs to greet me. Then, I will join all of my other co-workers in our morning production meeting. During these meetings, we discuss the status of our incoming orders. This is where I can brainstorm different social media content ideas to promote the various projects we have.
Cali, Melissa's boss' dog.
10:00 am - After the meeting, I check my emails and create a to-do list for the day. I created a posting schedule for all of our social media content which helps me stay organized throughout the month. Then, I take the stack of completed order tickets from the front desk to send out customer satisfaction surveys through HubSpot. After sending the surveys, I will update our survey spreadsheet with the date and contact that they were sent out.
11:00 am - In the mornings, I typically help the production team with any large orders that we have this week. These tasks typically vary from creating coiled training guides, putting together booklets, folding brochures, and packing orders. This gives me a great opportunity to film behind-the-scenes content for our social media pages.
12:00 pm - Lunch time! I take a 30-minute lunch break to eat my packed lunch which normally consists of a salad, pasta, or leftovers. I like to take this time to step away from my computer and enjoy my break!
1:00 pm - After my lunch break, I meet with my bosses for a marketing meeting in the conference room. During these meetings, I update them on my progress for all of our marketing content. Then we brainstorm new ideas to market our services to new and existing customers. At the end of the meeting, I add any new tasks to my to-do list.
2:00 pm - Every month, I create a blog post and a marketing email to go along with it. I write about a different topic in the print world to increase traffic to our website. I will research the topic to gather enough information for my blog post and create graphics to go along with it.
Replica Printing.
3:00 pm - If there are still orders that I need to complete, I will finish those up. If not, I will continue working on creating graphics for our marketing emails and social media platforms. Before the end of the day, I will send out any new customer satisfaction surveys from the day.
4:00 pm - By 4 pm, I am done for the day! I pack up my bags, clock out, and say goodbye to all of my co-workers. Then I drive back to my apartment to rest and work on my assignments for my summer courses.
Thank you for following along with my day as a marketing intern at Replica Printing. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to work with Replica Printing this summer. This internship allowed me to learn about different marketing strategies and how to apply them in business. Putting yourself out there in the professional world can be very intimidating. However, every job application process can allow you to learn and grow for the future!
